Field
Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to thermal processing of semiconductor substrates. More specifically, embodiments disclosed herein are related to rapid thermal processing lamps for thermal processing of semiconductor substrates.
Description of the Related Art
Rapid thermal processing (RTP) is one thermal processing technique that allows rapid heating and cooling of a substrate, such as a silicon wafer. RTP substrate processing applications include annealing, dopant activation, rapid thermal oxidation, and silicidation among others. Typical peak processing temperatures can range from about 450° C. to 1100° C. The heating is typically done in a RTP chamber with numerous lamps disposed in a lamphead above or below the substrate being processed.
These numerous individual lamps are often arranged in a matrix or honeycomb formation in the RTP lamphead of the RTP chamber. This matrix arrangement allows for individual adjustment of the power provided to the different lamps in order to control the temperature over the regions of the substrate, such as radial regions of a surface of the substrate being annealed. Although this matrix arrangement of RTP lamps can be effectively used for thermal processing of substrates, each individual lamp incrementally adds material costs as well as maintenance costs for the end user of the RTP chamber.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved and more efficient RTP lamp arrangement.